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Mortal Kombat is now in theaters and on HBO Max, blazing into our lives like Scorpion’s spear and allowing you to choose your destiny in order to watch it. While the movie veers away from one major thing from the original game, it does have plenty of nods to familiar faces from the franchise, including a big Easter egg in the final scene. However, that’s not the only Easter egg. The movie has plenty.
It can be hard to take note of all of the nods, references, and Easter eggs on display in any movie, let alone one as action-packed and fast-paced as Mortal Kombat. Don’t worry, though, we’ve done the heavy lifting for you. Take a look below at the 25 best Easter eggs we found hidden in the movie, then test your might by sounding off in the comments with your favorite, and check out GameSpot’s review of Mortal Kombat.
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Now Playing: Mortal Kombat (2021) Cast Plays Real or Fake Game Character
Warning: The following contains literally all of the spoilers for the new Mortal Kombat movie. If you haven’t watched it yet, you should clearly just bookmark this and come back after you have.
1. Hanzo vs Bi-Han
This one shouldn’t come as much of a surprise, due to it being in the trailers and also released online ahead of the movie, but Mortal Kombat opens by showing the history between the men who would eventually become Scorpion and Sub-Zero. You can dig into the details of the moment in our breakdown of the scene.
2. Lord Raiden
After the death of Hanzo, Raiden appears to save his last surviving child. That’ll become important later.
3. “Cole Young, the man who took the belt from Eddie Tobias.”
Cole’s own introduction is one of the movie’s best Easter eggs. While he may be an original character, it’s said that he defeated Eddie Tobias for a championship. Eddie Tobias is a mix of Ed Boon and John Tobias, the creators of the Mortal Kombat franchise.
4. Dragon birthmark
Corporate branding as a birthmark? Test your might!
5. Find Sonya Blade
Before we meet Sonya, Jax tells Cole to find her. It shouldn’t be too difficult, she’s in so many video games and even a couple of movies.
6. Jax’s arms
Jax losing his arms to Sub-Zero is not canon in the game’s lore. However, he does lose them in the series, leading to the robot replacements we see in the movie.
7. “The reptilian, Syzoth”
Here, Shang Tsung is referring to Reptile, whose actual name is Syzoth. In the movie, he’s not quite the green colorway ninja you’re used to from the games. Once we see him, he even hits acid and has cloaking abilities–like his video game counterpart.
8. Night Wolf
While Night Wolf isn’t in the movie, his image can be seen on Sonya Blades Mortal Kombat murder wall. He’s labeled a Makota Warrior.
9. Black Dragon clan
Kano is introduced, chained up in Sonya’s bunker, as a member of the Black Dragon clan. This clan of mercenaries is pulled directly from the games and also includes Kabal, who we meet later in the movie.
10. “Kano wins”
When Kano defeats Reptile, he pulls out his signature fatality from the first Mortal Kombat game–ripping out his opponent’s heart. He then lets us know, “Kano wins.”
11. Fireballs
What better way to introduce Liu Kang than by including something the original movies didn’t–his ability to throw fireballs?
12. Shaolin Order of Light
Liu is introduced as a member of the Shaolin Order of Light. In the games (and even the previous movies), the Order of Light is a sect of monks that first nominated Liu Kang to be a combatant (kombatant?) in Mortal Kombat.
13. Those paintings
Raiden’s temple has some interesting art on the walls, including paintings of Shao Kahn and Goro. After all, when decorating, make sure to highlight your various nemeses.
14. Cheap shots
During his first sparring session with Liu Kang, Kano falls victim to the most dastardly maneuver in Mortal Kombat history–repeated leg sweeps. In the games, you were either someone who hated this as a fighting tactic or the person deploying it.
15. Kano’s laser eye
When Kano finally unlocks his arcana after throwing a hissy fit, he unleashes that nasty laser beam from his eye you know and love from the games.
16. Special moves
This movie is loaded with signature non-fatality moves, from Liu Kang’s bicycle kick to Scorpion making liberal use of his spear and chain to Kabal’s dashing tackle maneuver. It may be hard to keep track of them all, but rest assured you can do just about any move in this movie (other than Cole Young’s) in the games.
17. Kung Lao’s fatality
Possibly the best fatality in the movie comes when Kung Lao uses his hat as a saw to cut Nitara in half in one of the film’s most graphic moments. This, like most of the fatalities, is pulled directly from the games. He then proclaims his win a “flawless victory.”
18. Ol’ faithful
How does Cole finally get the upper hand on Goro? By using the best and most effective move in Mortal Kombat history–the uppercut.
19. “Your soul is mine.”
Shang Tsung’s immortal line from the original Mortal Kombat movie lives on as he kills Kung Lao.
20. Jax’s head clap fatality
Thank goodness for Jax’s robotic arms. Though we see a bit of it in the trailer, his head clap fatality in all its glory is disturbingly cool.
21. “Get over here”
You didn’t think we’d get through a Mortal Kombat movie without hearing this iconic line, did you?
22. Sub-Zero classic
During his battle with Scorpion, Sub-Zero loses some of that over-the-top armor he wears in the film, and is left with a costume that looks a lot closer to the classic outfit from the games.
23. Scorpion’s fatality
While it doesn’t leave a pile of bones behind, we do see Scorpion’s fire breath fatality and it looks exceptionally cool.
24. Citizen Cage
The poster for Johnny Cage’s next movie looks as ridiculous as you’d expect. While we don’t see Johnny’s face–for a very good reason–we do see he has the massive belt buckle with his name on it. Is he playing himself in the movie?
25. The theme
There’s no post-credits scene, but you should stick around for the credits anyway. After all, so many people worked hard to make this movie a reality–and the ending theme song is clearly inspired by the greatest song of all time–the theme from the original Mortal Kombat movie.
